April 12, 2011

What's The Most Challenging Part Of Your Job Search?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

Finding a job, no matter where the economy is at, is a stressful and overwhelming experience. Did you realize that with some simple planning, you can quickly and easily glide through the entire process, with little effort?

Here are the top three job search tips for individuals who are currently working, but looking for new options in their career.

1. Get a resume tune-up.

Your resume should serve as a quality piece of marketing literature.... selling your skills and experience to prospective employers. If it's not perfect, and I'm referring to its format, grammar, content and flow, you will prevent hiring managers and recruiters from contacting you to set up the interview. They will "pass on you."

Sure, you can effectively write your own resume, but plan on spending time researching the appropriate form for your particular industry and field. Preferably, you should consider leaving your competition behind, by hiring a professional resume writing service. Worth its weight in gold, most resume writers will focus on selling your assets and minimizing your liabilities (if any).

2. Target prospective employers, instead of sending resumes out to anyone and everyone.

There is conflicting information that suggests the more resumes you send out, the more likely you are to land your next job. Let me pose a question to you. If you're a restaurant manager, and you disperse your resume to recruiters who do not hire hospitality management professionals, doesn't that qualify for spinning your wheels?

Work smart - target the employers you want to work for, and be diligent in your follow-up.

3. Be relentless in your follow-up as a candidate. I have five kids, and not a day goes by that I'm not busy with work - but they'll ask me to get them a drink. (I'm fortunate to work from my home). "Give me a few minutes," I'll state. 30 seconds later, the second request comes in, then the third, then the fourth. My children are absolute professionals at the art of relentless follow-up.

There's an old saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." Please don't be like my five-year old; you run the risk that an employer might not find it quite as cute coming from a grown adult. However, set up a schedule to follow-up after submitting your application or resume, and keep accurate records.

Until you hear either a NO or receive a turn-down letter, you're still in the running for the position you've applied for.

If you focus on these top three issues facing job candidates, you'll find your job search quickly becomes less stressful and exponentially more successful.

Author: Christina Diane Archer is a recruiter, expert resume writer, social media consultant and published author.

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Welcome to the Minnesota Headhunter Blog. My name is Paul DeBettignies (pronounced De-Bett-ingz).

I started writing in 2005 to share thoughts and ideas I had as an IT recruiter.

Since then I expanded this site to include MN IT and recruiter jobs, links to Minnesota business news and promote the local tech community.

I am the Principal of Minnesota Headhunter, LLC a Minneapolis IT search firm and a frequent local and national speaker and article contributor on recruiter, HR, career, networking and social media topics.